The GOP candidate for the senate in the December special election is Roy Moore, and insurgent who beat the establishment favored candidate in the primary. Today, "news" broke that Moore is accused of sexually abusing a teenaged girl. According to the story, there was no rape but there was inappropriate touching. Wow! This should really sink Moore's candidacy, right? That, indeed, may be the point here. The girl who is accusing Moore says this all happened when she was 14. Today, she is 52. She never told anyone about this for the last 38 years. She didn't report it to the police. She didn't say anything during any of the times that Moore ran for and won state-wide office in Alabama. Only now is she coming forward with her story. Only now, when there is no way to corroborate her story is she coming forward. The whole thing smacks of a campaign dirty trick, a set up.
For his part, Moore says this never happened. He calls it a lie and a smear. Of course, there is no way to tell which one is speaking the truth.
The media says that there are other women who say that Moore came on to them about the same time as this supposed misconduct, but even these other women say that there was no inappropriate behavior by Moore with them. It is not (yet) a crime for a man to flirt with a woman, even if there is an age difference between them.
So what do we have here really? We have a charge from a woman who didn't bother coming forward for nearly 40 years. We have a man who has held state-wide office repeatedly in Alabama. He says nothing of the sort charged ever happened. Obviously, he has a clear motive to say it didn't happen, but she has a clear motive to say that it did. He doesn't want to ruin his chances for election. She wants to ruin those very chances. There's nothing to support her claims.
I realize that if this story is true, it must have been traumatic for the woman involved. Still, one does have to wonder how she managed to stay silent for four decades as Moore was in the public eye again and again.
The reality is that I just do not believe her. There may be a reason why she stayed silent for 40 years, but there are countless reasons why she should have talked before now. Indeed, if she had come forward a few months ago, before Moore won the GOP primary, I would have been more likely to believe her. The fact that she waited to unleash these charges until it was too late for there to be any other GOP candidate in the election, is mighty suspicious. Without more evidence, I have to conclude that she is not telling the truth.
For his part, Moore says this never happened. He calls it a lie and a smear. Of course, there is no way to tell which one is speaking the truth.
The media says that there are other women who say that Moore came on to them about the same time as this supposed misconduct, but even these other women say that there was no inappropriate behavior by Moore with them. It is not (yet) a crime for a man to flirt with a woman, even if there is an age difference between them.
So what do we have here really? We have a charge from a woman who didn't bother coming forward for nearly 40 years. We have a man who has held state-wide office repeatedly in Alabama. He says nothing of the sort charged ever happened. Obviously, he has a clear motive to say it didn't happen, but she has a clear motive to say that it did. He doesn't want to ruin his chances for election. She wants to ruin those very chances. There's nothing to support her claims.
I realize that if this story is true, it must have been traumatic for the woman involved. Still, one does have to wonder how she managed to stay silent for four decades as Moore was in the public eye again and again.
The reality is that I just do not believe her. There may be a reason why she stayed silent for 40 years, but there are countless reasons why she should have talked before now. Indeed, if she had come forward a few months ago, before Moore won the GOP primary, I would have been more likely to believe her. The fact that she waited to unleash these charges until it was too late for there to be any other GOP candidate in the election, is mighty suspicious. Without more evidence, I have to conclude that she is not telling the truth.
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